This invention was the subject matter of Document Disclosure Program Registration No. 194,220 which was filed in the U. S. Pat. and Trademark Office on May 31, 1988.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. No's: 4,601,701; 3,276,472; 4,252,116; and, 2,999,499 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse arrangements for administering a variety of medicants to a patient in both a simultaneous and/or sequential fashion.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for their intended purpose and function, most of these inventions were developed prior to the onset of the current AIDS epidemic; and as such these inventions were not particularly concerned with the problems that face the vast majority of medical professionals in todays environment.
Given the fact that the AIDS virus can be transmitted by contact with contaminated needles or exposure to blood which contains the virus, todays health care professionals are particularly wary of procedures involving injections for the purpose of introducing medicants or withdrawing blood from a patient.
Considering the fact that every injection that is administered to a patient hypothetically runs the risk of infecting the recipient and/or the person administering the injection with the AIDS virus; it should not come as a surprise that medical professionals welcome with open arms any procedure that minimizes the number of times that they are potentially exposed to infections of any type.
In light of the foregoing situation there has existed a long standing need among medical professionals for a new valving arrangement that will allow medicants to be introduced into an intravenous fluid delivery system with minimum likelihood that the medicant dispensing needle will come into contact with either the patient or the individual giving the injection; and, the provision of such an arrangement is a stated objective of the present invention.